Women's Work
by Memories-of-the-Shadows
Summary: With house elves doing the housework, but many women still housewives, what is it that they do all day?


_**In many cultures housework and overseeing the household have been traditional duties for a wife—especially in the Victorian era, which the Wizarding World seems to be stuck in. But what happens to that when a society has house elves for housework and magic for everything else?**_

_**:::**_

"Why're you studying runes and arithmancy, Harry? The war is over, we're out of Hogwarts, you're almost as bad as Hermione," said Ron with a yawn at the end. It was one of the few days that he had gotten out of work in time to visit his friend at Grimmauld Place. Being an auror was hard work, but Ron enjoyed it. It helped that he was respected for helping Harry Potter defeat the Dark Lord.

Harry threw his best friend a sharp glance. "Don't let her hear you say that. I know you two broke up but I thought you agreed to be friends."

"We did. Doesn't stop her from being a bookworm. Just like you. Come on, just answer me, then we can play some chess before Hannah wants to cook me dinner." Ron took a swig of butterbeer that Kreacher put on the table for him. "Ah, that's the good stuff."

He sighed and closed his book, knowing that Ron would not let up until he told him. "I was interested in magical portraits."

"Getting one done then? It's probably about time you being a lord and all. But normally your wife or mum does that." Ron grinned, a sly look on his face. "So who's the lucky bird, then?"

"What girl? What are you talking about, mate? No, I wanted to see if I could learn how to do it myself. Plus, I heard that spell creation is a very fulfilling field and—"

Ron interrupted his blue eyes wide. "Bloody hell, you're not turning into a girl are you, mate? Why would you ever want to paint pictures and make spells? That's bloody women's work, it is. Next you'll be telling me you cook and clean even though you have Kreacher here. Or," his eyes grew even wider with the horror of it all, "do _theatre_."

Kreacher, who had been clearing off the table, muttered, "Master does cook and clean, evens though I tells him Kreacher will dos it." Ron's mouth fell open in horror.

"My best mate is turning into a bloody girl!"

"I am not, Ron, you know better than that! Now what are you talking about, 'women's work'? I thought that most women just worked at the same jobs everybody else did unless they decided to stay at home."

"Only if they're _progressive_, Harry. Honestly you can't just look at Fleur, Ginny, and Hermione for everything. Hell, even Fleur stays at home now that Victoire is on the way. I know you got Teddy and you don't want to be an auror but maybe the twins could give you a job, Merlin knows you need to get out more. Or get a girlfriend. Maybe then you could get your head screwed on straight." Ron snorted, draining the last of his butterbeer. "I can just see that ferret, Malfoy now, 'Ooh, Potter's going to paint pictures, I can't wait to see him in a dress, doesn't he look just like a perfectly ugly girl?' I hear Susan still likes you maybe you should floo her sometime."

"Why is that stuff women's work though? Merlin, the Wizarding World is so backwards."

Ron shrugged. "How should I know, mate? They gotta have something to do I guess. Ask Andromeda, she would know."

/\/'/\/'\/\'\/\

The beautiful black-haired woman laughed softly as she hitched the sleeping baby in her arms. "He really said that, then? My, Harry, your best friend is quite the character."

Harry smiled slightly, but he still looked worried. "Yeah, but I thought I had finally found something that I could do, and no one would make fun of me for it, something that I would enjoy. Would it really be such a bad thing?"

Andromeda carefully put her grandson in the crib. "No," she said quietly, so as not to wake Teddy, "just unusual. And you know how most wizards and witches react to the unusual."

"Not well."

"No, not well at all. It's different in the muggle world as I understand it. Although it used to be that witches were expected to do housework and stay at home like their muggle counterparts, house elves gradually took over that aspect. So many women—for whom painting was a hobby at best, a chore forced on them at worst—began to develop the magic to both help those who could not afford a house elf and to animate the paintings they created of their families. The more adventurous ones—mostly Gryffindors but a few Slytherins—saw the success of the Globe theatre and wanted to replicate it, except most men wanted nothing to do with it and instead the women did it themselves. Bored and tired of being at home watching house elves do what they used to, women sliced out another corner of our world for us. For centuries ancient runes and arithmancy were subjects that women dominated in, and, even now we are more than half the class."

Harry looked down. "And it went from there. So what now?"

She smiled at him. "Now? Now I show you how to paint. After all, it's your life to live now, so you might as well do it while you still can."

_**:::**_

_**Just a little thought I had. I hope I did it justice.**_

_**Please Read and Review.**_


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